Sunday, September 13, 2009

Oven Roasted Tomato Soup -- Indian Ishtyle

First day of new school. Bus at 7:30. Too much excitement. Up since 4' in the morning.

Novelty wears off in two days time. Now 6:30 in the morning on a weekday is not a good time to be at our home. There is so much drama that HBO would cower down in shame and the pimply Dish Network guy with the Indian name would never ever call me again saying "Auntie, we at dish network have a great deal".

Ever day and I really mean this, I intend to get up at dark and sneak out before even the clock says 6:30. I really don't want to get caught into the early morning melodrama. The Dad could handle this better I think, he has done this through the last 3 years of pre-school. But to become the Saint Mom is my current short term career goal, so I stay put.

I am up way before 6, cajoling and then shouting at the 5 year old to get up. I am chirping brightly about how the new school is going to be so much fun while the 5 year old clearly thinks otherwise. She misses her pre-school which was way more fun by her standard. I am trying to make b'fast interesting which she refuses to touch and thwarts my attempts at creative lunch making by asking me just pack a sandwich.

Going at this rate my sainthood is highly jeopardized, the Vatican will not even peruse my resume if I am packing sandwiches with nothing but chicken nugget in them.

Back home to compensate that lunch with a healthy dinner and also use up the bounty of cherry tomatoes, I device a Oven Roasted Tomato Soup. The bold flavor of garlic and sweet scent of tomatoes roasting in the oven is enough to make me feel happy and uplift my spirits.I decide to go the Indian route and spice up the Tomato soup with some whole cumin and then as a last minute whim add a little of my Red Masoor Dal (Red Lentil). With garlic chives and coriander snipped from the herb pot, the soup definitely tastes tantalizing.

"It is the best Tomato soup we have ever had", says the hungry Dad

"Why is the Tomato Soup orange, I want a red tomato soup", says the 5 year old

The glare and 15 minutes later she says, " It is yummy", while she mops up the dregs with the last piece of bread !!!

In an aluminum pouch throw together 30-35 cherry tomatoes, 4-5 cloves of garlic, salt and ground black pepper. Drizzle liberally and I mean liberally with olive oil. Put in the oven at 400F for an hour, In my toaster oven it took an hour and then I had it on broil

Heat a deep bottomed pan or a soup pot

Pour Olive oil, this time don't go over the top

Add 1/4 tsp of cumin and when it sizzles add some finely chopped white onion. Saute with a sprinkle of sugar till onion turns a light shade 0f brown

First things first. So let me also say "It sounds like a wonderful tomato soup".

My daughter was like this too. She enjoyed the first 5 days of school till she realised this was becoming a routine!A month down the line she started enjoying pre-school pretty much, she refused to believe us when we used to tell her weekend were holidays. We had to take her there and show her the lock on the gate!!!

And after 1st grade, she decided she had learnt enough to teach KG kids so she could drop out of school. :) It was her ambition to become a KG teacher those days.Btw, I think all mums are unglorified saints in their own right.

Sorry Sandeepa for not sounding optimistic, because I think days are even tougher as the child grows.

My 12 yrs old 7th grader decides to get up at 6.15 only to step out of house at 6:45. And no way is he going to enter the bathroom for a shower before 6.30. And let me tell you, he will sit sleepily and fiddle with the TV remote till the nick of 6.30.

Till a year back in anxiety as well as in true Bong ishtyle protectiveness I used to accompany him to the bus stop.Now as he moved to 7th, I have stopped doing that saving myself a couple of breaths.

But God has been too kind. As my son is growing up, he is consciously strengthening me with much greater patience and tolerance.

So Best of Luck to all Moms who are just getting set to the school routine. Cheers.

hahaha! welcome to the crowd! with a 2nd grader at home i hear you on this. now it's just wake him and then pretend to ignore him. if he is not ready he'll have to stay at home the whole day alone. we even did that once not the whole day - but tom and i drove off. 5 minutes later we came back and believe it or not he was up! in the bathroom (albeit crying) but brushing his teeth! after that he is fairly quick to get out of bed.

Love that soup i can imagine the intense flavour a syoroasted them.Now about school, I didn't send Shyama to school till she was 5 to the horror of my friends here as they send their kids to school when they were just 3.I thought she should enjoy her time at home ( plust point was i was not working) I am sure you and you lovely daughter will soon get used to the routine.Like aparna said sh might enjoy too much that she will want to go in the weekend.

Funny how we resist something that looks different, even if it's something as harmless as home-cooked food. Can well imagine how you're feeling with your ambitions to saintly motherhood thwarted! Having met her, I'm trying to imagine her expressions - and yours - during these moments!

Oh.. The story of my life for the past last week too. Aayush spends an whole hour just nibbling his breakfast. The last 10 minutes end up being me desparately trying to feed him as much of the said breakfast to him as possible. and Of course, packing lunch is another saga completely....Sigh...next year, I will have Anoushka ready with the same issues. I am tired already.

Oven roasted tomatoes, masoor dal and cumin too?! Definitely my kinda soup! Lil S looks soooo very cute in her little uniform and Dora backpack. Poor baby, I can almost feel her pain at having to get up early and go to school. M in the same boat too but she seems to be enjoying the school once I drop her off. Till then, she's whining about how she wants to be grown-up so she can skip school and go to office instead. Of course being the opportunistic mom that I am, I quickly tell her "that's why you have to finish your lunch box at school. so you can grow up soon and go to office!"

Wasn't becoming a teacher our ambition too, mine surely was, that was the favorite game we played.My daughter had got so used to her pre-school/daycare for the last 3 years that I guess she misses it. Also the timing is a major factor for this new school. Getting up early is not her forte

BWM

Arrrrrrrgh !!!!

Meeta

Well done. That indeed is a good pointer. If this continues for long, I will follow your path.S likes her school but I think she is missing her pre-school/daycare. She spent 3 years there.

HC

My daughter has been going to pre-school/daycare since 2 years 3 months. She was so used to her pre-school that after the first few months she loved it. I thought she had gotten over that school going thing !!But there we would drop her only around 9:00 so she could get up late. Here the bus comes at 7:30 !!

Sra

I know :D

Vee

Oh my what luck !!!I have stopped giving any breakfast at all. My Mom will kill me but I have no choice. I just give a snack which she eats at first recess. BTW why don't you blog anymore ? Miss your posts

Yeah that early thing is definitely the point. So nice to know M likes her pre-school now. When S finished hers this summer end, I was as sad as her to leave the school and the teachers. Somehow you develop a bonding with teachers and everyone at the pre-school 'coz you meet and talk to them so much on a daily basis.

Already the Little S ready for KG! Good luck Sandeepa, Sept is always hectic for moms and kids, until we get settled down. Thank God I am not packing everyday lunch for my son who is in 3 rd grade, the thoughest part to make him eat breakfast! Winter days are harder for kids!Soup with dhal and cumin something to enjoy!

I prefer this colour to the red colour of tomato soup actually, though I must admit I've thrown quite a fit when my mom fed me this soup in orange colour ( she used to add carrots!) But it wasn've ever oven roasted!

I have no comments about kids going to school :P I shall wait for my turn and then say something knowledgeble ;)

:-) my story is the other way round.. my kids could push me out of the bed to get them ready .. so much rush to get out & got to school. I get requests to wake her up when i do. & today the little one woke at 5 & was all ready to go.

That soup sounds the best & I so agree with the "Dad" . I love roasted tomatoes!!

What a treasure this pix is going to be in the years to come.Your write up brought back memories and the pix did something more than nostalgia to my heart.My kids are grown now and away but it seems just yesterday that a familiar scene like this happened.Sandeepa,you write so well,hope you have taken it up seriously as well.Just put a few tomatoes in the oven,it will go well tonight with Vegetable -au-gratin.Delo

I am with you on trying to wake up early, as much as I try it doesn't seem to work :( I/we did what meeta did and left him (3 1/2) as he was not happy with me and as per normal giving trouble with eating his meals. He was in tears on the road ! but hopefully learnt his lesson as his appetite seems to have increased since that episode.

Ah, this is a new type of recipe for tomato soup, I was almost fed up with the same old preparation, thanks for sharing this recipe and thanks again for the answers, I'll let you know when we publish your interview :)

As for the kiddies ' school business, touchwood, but I've never had any problems with R and A waking up in the morning;they get up by themselves, before 6 ,even on weekends :-( Both of them enjoy going to school very much... even after their transition from the nursery to main school.The actual "drama" starts once they step into the bathroom ( where they seem to stay forever) and while having breakfast, where they think that's the only time they've got to talk about every topic under the sun :-(

hi Sandeepa,Thanks for stopping by and also for conveying ur wishes :)Let me first start with the recipe then the rest of the story will follow :)The soup looks absolutely gorgeous and has a homely look :)( I mean it doesnt look ready made) I love these kind of flavourful and comforting home made soups..love the kiddo's snap and like her little dora school bag looks so sweet :) I'm sorry too! as I missed a lot of ur earlier posts, just browsed through them now and the most eye catching was the bhapa doi :) I'll try it some time ... Liked reading about ur momy adventures :) it's kinda challenging n fun I guess ;)

Same with me till date after my son moving into 2nd std. Waking him up in the morning and getting him eat is breakfast! And lunch thats another story altogether. Sandwhiches won't last long and once they settle down their tastebuds would demand more vareities. So please wait for some more time to prepare good lunches for her. The tomato soup looks lovely. I adore the flavors and looks like a must try.

Sigh...just went through that whole transition thing with my 4 year old this April; after almost 2 years in pre-school which she loved completely, everything about the nursery in "big school" seemed wrong! Luckily, we got over the whole drama routine every morning (do they come hard wired?!) after a month - so hang in there!!The only saving grace is that this school is at 8 am and exactly 0.5 km away!! But of course, we have to talk non stop for the one hour that we take to get ready!!!

6/7 tomatoes - Put in pressure cooker with enough water and salt to taste. Give it one whistle. Puree. No need of straining. Put to simmer for few minutes.

Seasoning- In a small frying pan, put little ghee(1 tsp) or butter, when slightly hot(not too hot), put 1/2 tsp.jeera powder(cumin), pinch of hing, pinch of haldi and little red chilly powder. Add it to the tomatoe puree soup and simmer. Take off fire and enjoy!! Can sprinkle chopped coriander leaves!

Well, I have been through worse bringing up my two brats who are grown up now! Smaller one was spoilt tight by darling mom-in-law who would make him wear his uniform, shoes, everything when inside his blanket in the bed in sleeping mode! Bath? Forget it!! Was not in his horoscope. Would have it at late night before sleep, that,too, sometimes!! Breakfast? Forget it!! Only milk, not a full glass, that too! Tiffin? Had to complain to his teacher to supervise or else Mommy dear would have to finish for throwing it in the garbage is against my principles!

I have 2 more years to go before the morning nightmare starts. I don't understand why the schools have to start so early even for 5 year olds.Havent tasted Oven Roasted tomato soup, tried roasted bell pepper soup though. Looks pretty good.

Sandeepa, I came across our blog while blog-hopping. You write so we..not to mention those gorgeous amd colorful dishes you whip up. Looks like you and me are in the same mommy boat...I have a 5 yr old who just started KG and a 2.5 yr old. I love reading your mommy experiences...makes me feel Im not alone.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine